The U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration announced that the newly formed District 12 office within the agency's Coal Mine Safety and Health division has begun operations. MSHA initiated the process of splitting the agency's jurisdiction over southern West Virginia coal mines - formerly all covered by District 4 - into two separate districts earlier this year.

The new office, in its formative stages, eventually will be located in Pineville but for now is temporarily housed at the National Mine Health and Safety Academy in Beaver. It will have jurisdiction over field offices in Pineville, Logan and Princeton. District 4 will remain in Mt. Hope and will oversee field offices in Mt. Hope, Mt. Carbon, Madison and Summersville.

Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va. this week, wrote a strongly-worded letter to the United States Environmental Protection Agency demanding the agency show proof that jobs were considered when issuing new regulations for coal-fueled power plants over the past year.

Capito’s letter comes on the heels of frustrating news that American Electric Power will shut down five plants in West Virginia and Ohio, resulting in job cuts and higher utility costs across the board.

The Associated Equipment Distributors has joined the campaign to build support for a new bill to beat back the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) attack on state authority under the Clean Water Act (CWA).

The Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act (H.R. 2018) has major implications for equipment distributors around the country.  In recent years, the Obama EPA has used the CWA permitting process to block coal mines in Appalachia; however, quarries, farmers, and commercial, residential, and infrastructure construction projects also receive CWA scrutiny and are potentially affected by EPA’s abuse of its authority.

The Friends of Coal continue their outreach efforts with the following events:

Continued work on the State Journal direct message piece. The section now looks to be 40-48 pages and will feature news and profile pieces featuring industry issues and Association members.

June 16^th – Association met with the leadership of the Boy Scouts Summit project and toured

the property in Fayette County.  Also met with Senators and Delegates from Fayette, Raleigh, Nicholas and Wyoming counties, as well as Commissioners, Mayors and their staffs from Fayette County.

July 15-17th – Will maintain an informational booth at the Friends of Coal Auto Fair in Beckley.

July 21st – Friends of Coal will provide the keynote speaker for the Cabell County Schools’

West Virginia Coal Project to discuss the economic impact of coal on the West Virginia economy. The presentation will be at the Logan Country Club in Chapmanville, WV on the evening of July 21, 2011.